Rise of Mama
by Prime627
Summary: When Nemesis disappeared two years ago with his two daughters, Optimus is left with the pieces. But then they find the girls, alive, and they bring them home. The only trouble is, things are happening, things that Optimus cannot explain, especially what the girls call Mama...
1. Chapter 1

Nemesis ran away. He gathered his two daughters into his arms, tucked them in the black Dodge Avenger, strapped them in...and he drove away.

"Daddy's taking you to the cabin," he said as he drove. Victori saw he wasn't wearing his seatbelt. "Daddy's taking you to the cabin..."

"Mama?" Lioness knew one word, and she used _Mama_ for anything warm and comforting.

Nemesis shook his head, trembling. They were asking for his mate, Airachnid. After they, the Cybertronians, ended the war, the Autobots and Decepticons were allowed to come together and mate as humans to keep their _under cover_ rules. Optimus chose Arcee (at long last), and Nemesis chose Airachnid, who bore two femmes: Victori, and then later, Lioness, named for her mane of golden hair that couldn't be tamed. Ever. Not even with a brush set and a stylist.

He was going too fast. He knew that. The Avenger's engine wailed as it hit 90 miles an hour. And then the deer jumped in front of him.

Victori screamed "Daddy!" and Lioness simply howled as Nemesis twisted the wheel out of reflex. The car tipped over and plummetted, rolling and rolling down the steep bank that was on the right side of the road. A tree stopped it, and the car died. It refused to go anywhere.

Nemesis looked back at his children. Victori was whimpering, but Lioness was quiet, staring off into the distance outside the car. He cooed and scooped his little one-year-old up, stroking her hair that was matted again. He laughed and purred, taking Victori's hand. "Shhhh," he purred. "The cabin is up this path. Shhhhhh..."

Victori didn't see a path, but she trusted her sire and she followed him, even when she felt they were being followed. Lioness fell asleep against her sire's shoulder.

When they were in the cabin, Nemesis laid his daughters on the couch. He stroked their heads, then walked to the glass sliding door. He fingered the edge of the blade he had stole from the kitchen. It dripped with Energon from Airachnid. Funny, how they were told they were different depending on what faction they were in, but Energon was Energon, no matter what vein it flowed out of.

While Lioness and Victori watched, he slit his throat and slumped to the floor. Victori whined sadly and crawled to snuggle into her sire's belly while he was still warm. It was autumn outside, and it was cold. But Nemesis was warm and inviting.

Lioness wandered into the kitchen after falling off the couch. It was there that she found something more promising. "Mama!"

Soft hands cradled her face, touched her hair and combed through it with constantly-flexing fingers. Victori followed her sister's voice and knelt by Lioness. Her glasses were broken, dangling off her ears, but the gentle hands plucked those off and threw them into a corner. All Victori could see was a skinny black-brown figure with flowing hair that acted like she was under water, fanning out above her and swaying with some invisible current. Then there was red, and Lioness cooed.

"Cherries!" Victori cheered and scooped them up, spitting out the pits and helping her sister do the same. But when she looked for the one that gifted them with these delicious things, _in the middle of autumn_ , there was no one to be found.

But _Mama_ , who had been called by Lioness and would forever be that to the little girls, was standing behind them in the shadows, plucking at her dress and making Cybertronian-like noises the girls loved to hear from their sire and carrier. The girls relaxed, feeling safe, even with their sire lying dead in the next room.

 **ooo**

 _ **Two years later...**_

Optimus woke up, stretching and yawning. Arcee was curled up beside him, twitching in a dream. They had a little apartment, with little furniture. They weren't often there. Optimus was off getting inspired with his paper and pencils and Arcee had gotten wound into Miko's band somehow.

The Prime shook his mate's shoulder, stroking her white skin. She didn't get out much anymore, and her blond-and-blue-streaked hair was fading back to its usual brown-gold tones. He preferred it like this, but she had to keep up with Miko's black and pink hair, and that was okay, too. He didn't mind so long as his mate was happy and safe.

Nemesis had dropped off the grid. No one had found him or his daughters. Airachnid had been found, dead in her bed, but the other three were gone, as if they never existed.

Optimus looked over at the picture on the nightstand of his brother and he touched it.

"You still think he's alive?" Arcee shifted, setting her chin on her mate's chest. "It's been two years without contact or...anything."

"Yes, but I cannot give up on him. It feels wrong to give up on him." He sat up and got out of the bed, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles. "I desire to go to the national park."

"Miko has another song to record, so I'll be...out. Call me or something, mm?" She got up and pushed by Optimus while he buttoned his shirt up. She came out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in her mouth and a graphic tanktop that advertised Miko's band around her neck. She pulled that down over her small breasts (she had no use for a bra for they weren't as comfortable as they were advertised to be) and she pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth. "Maybe we can go out for dinner."

"If I sell a drawing of mine," Optimus said as he kissed her forehead, "I will take you out to dinner _and_ buy you another tanktop, because you look lovely in these." He traced out the drawing of a fist on the black top she was wearing now, then he guided her head up to accept a kiss. He purred. "Do you still like Applebee's?"

"Mm-hmm," Arcee purred. "I'll be the one with the tattered jeans."

"I will look for that," he said and he pushed her out of the apartment and down the stairs after snagging his portfolio of drawings he chose to sell. Several more were framed, taped, and pinned to the walls around the apartment. They had no need for wallpaper.

They walked to their destinations. Miko lived in the apartment complex two blocks away, and Optimus had enough change to take the bus twice. He squeezed Arcee's hand and drew her into another kiss before he let her go and he waited for the bus.

He sold two drawings on the bus (one of Arcee staring out the window, another of a heron holding a fish in its beak while it decided how it was going to swallow its meal). He sold another of a squirrel and its group of young in the park while he worked on a drawing of a toad guarding its eggs. He was nearly done when he got the call on his cheap cell Miko pressured him to buy so she could call him.

Ratchet, his closest friend and skeptic of all things bearing the label _paranormal_ , called him with news. "Optimus, you need to come down to the institute. Lioness and Victori were found in your brother's summer cabin. They're alive."

Optimus hurriedly sold the toad drawing and pressed the couple to buy another so he could have pocket change. They insisted on giving him three dollars for the drawing, but he pleaded for eighty-six cents. He was rewarded that and a "four dollar tip". He bolted out of the park, thanking them repeatedly before he did, and begged the bus driver to press against the speed limit until they neared Miko's complex.

He interrupted their practice, but he knew they would forgive him. He looked at his mate. "They found the kids," he whispered. "They are alive."

 **ooo**

"They were lucky to have survived. The hunters, they reported cherry pits and animal carcasses. Primus must have been looking out for the little babies, because they are in nearly perfect health."

"Cherries?" Optimus frowned as he walked with his friend, Arcee lagging behind slightly. "They are Cybertronian."

"Perhaps, but Airachnid was an organic. She might have given her children the ability to adapt, meaning since cherries and animals were the only thing they had access to, they trained their bodies to use those as fuel."

Optimus was glad he was friends with Ratchet. He wouldn't know what to do without them. Ratchet led them down a hallway and stopped in front of a large curtain that was shielding a window. Ratchet told them the window allowed them to watch the children without the children knowing they were being watched. "They are...very unusual right now, but Victori retained much of her vocabulary. Unfortunately, the only words Lioness knows are _Mama_ and _Victori_. That is all she will say, so it is unlikely she knows much else, but she is still young."

Ratchet pulled the curtain back and Optimus cooed when he saw Lioness laying under the bed. He remembered coming over for Christmas one year and seeing the child curled up under the table. She was a very unusual child, but her family loved her all the same. Victori was nowhere to be found.

Arcee's grip tightened around his arm and all three Cybertronians flinched when Victori suddenly stepped out into view, staring at the corner of the window and squinting.

Ratchet produced an eyeglass case. "She doesn't wear them all the time...she takes them off and leaves them lying around."

"Right, right..." Optimus took the eyeglass case and watched Ratchet open a door, which lead to an anteroom and another door.

"Open that when you are ready. Do you wish to go with Arcee?"

Kids were not her thing. She could deal with teenagers pretty well, but children were beyond her expertice. She shook her head.

Optimus stepped into the room and watched Victori run and hide under the bed, growling at him. He made a wide circle around her, keeping both children in view while he settled on his knees. "Hello, Victori...remember me?" He edged closer, stopping each time when she growled until he could reach out and touch the bed.

When he was that close, Victori put the bed between them, clawing at him in warning. Optimus smiled softly, opening the eyeglass case. "Here...you had a pair of these when you were little...remember? When you were six?" He set them on the bed and watched her as she grabbed them.

She turned them around, squinting until she slowly slid them on and she looked up at Optimus. "Daddy?"

He flinched. He and Nemesis had been twins, but complete opposites. Nemesis had dark hair, Optimus had light hair. Nemesis had dark eyes, Optimus had light eyes. Nemesis had children, and Optimus didn't.

"No, sweetspark... I am your uncle. Do you remember me? Uncle Optimus?" He moved closer, and this time she let him. "I used to come over all the time, remember?"

Victori whined and ran at him, burying her face in his shirt and grabbing at the back as if she thought he would go away. Lioness remained under the bed. Ratchet interrupted with news: Optimus' older sister was coming down from the other end of the country to speak with them.

 **ooo**

Of all the little known facts of Optimus Prime, the fact that he has an older sibling startles even those who have known him the longest. But, after seeing the two square off, it's no wonder.

Optima was tall, nearly as tall as Optimus Prime himself. She had blond hair as a human with pale skin (she didn't get out much) and icy blue eyes that were the same shade as her optics. She was strict, and she dressed like that: black jacket over a button-up white shirt, black slacks, and plain black flats. No jewelry and no rings.

She greeted her brother with a file folder. "I am going to take the children back home, where they will be safe, happy, and fed. Can you give them what they need?"

"Optima," Optimus growled. He pushed the file folder away with a finger as if it might bite him. "I am their uncle. I was there when they were born, when Lioness saw her first Christmas, when Victori learned to ride a bike. Where were you?"

"Doing more important things, obviously."

"Ah. Where you doing those important things when I was fighting the war?" He tipped his helm, staring at her.

Arcee got between them, pushing on her mate's chest and shoving at Optima's shoulder. "Okay. Enough. Optima, glad to see you. Optimus talks...so little about you, but I'm sur-"

" _You're_ the glitch he fell for? Optimus, I thought you had taste."

"Okay, that's it!"

Ratchet got between them this time. "Enough. Take this to court, will you?"

Optimus bared his teeth at his sister. "You are not getting my nieces. Nemesis would not have allowed it, and if he were here, he would spit on your shoes and kick you out the back door."

Optima yawned and shrugged off every Cybertronian insult. "Mm. See you in court with the nieces tucked in my car, brother."

Arcee watched her go. "Please let me hit her."

Optimus growled softly. "Not yet."

 **oooooooo**

 **I don't really remember why the dad took his babies out there, but...he did. I watched** _ **Mama**_ **twice last night, and I** _ **still**_ **missed the beginning. I always turned it on to the opening credits and all those drawings the little girls made. I** _ **love**_ **the movie so much x3 Hope you guys like it so far x3 This is pretty fun to write, especially with the basic plot and Cybertronians acting it out.**


	2. Chapter 2

Arcee got up and dressed in the best thing she had: a black dress that settled just over her knees. Optimus squirmed into a suit. They both looked...not as professional as Optima, but they were her near-equal.

Ratchet was waiting for them outside the courthouse, and he nodded when he saw their clothing. "Optima's inside. She's peeved, but we can easily work around that. All you guys have to do is act like a concerned uncle and aunt wanting your nieces."

Arcee hesitated. She wasn't married to Optimus, they were mated, which was totally different and more permanent. They couldn't easily back out of a bond. A divorce was basically a paper calling their marriage off. But bonding was forever, no matter what the other did. That was how mating worked. "But I won't technically be seen as their aunt. I'm not married to Optimus. They won't believe me when I say we're bonded. They don't get that." She was referring to the humans.

Ratchet nodded. "But we'll have to pretend you're married." He led them in.

Just as predicted, Optima fought for the nieces. Ratchet played videos of the children while they slept (Victori in a bed, Lioness hunched over in the corner of the room with her eyes wide open, but she twitched and mumbled in her dreams), ate, and played (which included sitting in a corner, staring off into space, and drawing on the walls).

Ratchet spoke, cutting Optima off. "These girls are in need of a family, a father and a mother, and a loving home to call their own. They need special care only a complete family could offer, and they need to be tended to constantly until they are both well. After they are united with a complete family, their states should improve dramatically. If not, they could become further withdrawn."

Optimus couldn't help but count how many times he hinted at putting the femmes with a family. Optima was neither married nor mated while Optimus and Arcee were.

And the court saw that as well, _but_ Optima had a better home (not an apartment) and an actual job (not drawing pictures or rocking in a band).

Ratchet, during a recess, said that himself. "But..." He set a picture of a house in front of them. "I don't want them to live with Optima. She's _too_ strict and the children will stop being children the moment they step through her door. So, I offer this house, funded by the institution. Rent free. All you have to do is agree to me coming over regularily and checking in on the girls."

Arcee's eyes widened. "That's it?"

Optimus took the picture and nodded. "We will move in as soon as possible."

When the court heard what had been planned and let the children in to sit down due to Ratchet's request (since apparently they were rowdy and Lioness bit someone), they saw as Victori tore away from her escort and jumped into Optimus' lap, pressing her face into his chest.

"Daddy!" She clung to him, even as the escort tried to take her away, apologizing repeatedly under his breath, but Optimus didn't know to who the apology was intended.

The court made its decision to send the girls to live with Optimus and his "wife" Arcee. Optima earned visitation rights every Thursday. She vowed to find a way to get the babies in her care. Optimus remained on high alert ever since.

 **ooo**

The house was beautiful. Because of the move, Arcee had to quit the band and Optimus took up a job (a semi truck driver) which made Arcee giggle to no end until she heard that he would be working nights all night. There was even the chance of him not coming home at all!

"Quit the job."

"Arcee, you know I cannot do that." He kissed her face, dragging her down onto the bed. The children were tucked into (or in Lioness' case, under) the beds in the room just down the hall. "I have to support our family now."

"You have to support _your_ family. They're not related to me!" She crossed her arms and looked away.

Optimus kissed her neck and cheek, pulling her close. "They will be...they are really sweet once you get to know them."

She sighed, but leaned against him and nodded. "Okay..."

"I start working tomorrow. You can handle a fierce eight-year-old and a three-year-old, right?"

She shrugged. "If they're related to Nemesis, probably not, but I'll take my chances."

Down the hall, Lioness was chewing on the blanket under the bed Optimus had wrapped her up in. She didn't like him, or the femme he was with. The only one she wanted was Mama. After tearing the stuffing out of the quilt, she looked at the closet and cooed. "Mama!"

Victori sat up and left her glasses on the nightstand, looking at the closet as the door opened and the figure she knew as Mama walked out, pulling the little ones into her arms and humming to them.

The sound carried through the vents and woke Optimus. He got up and walked to the girls' room, opening the door to find the children awake and bouncing around, Lioness wrapped in the deflated and stuffing-leaking quilt, Victori in her torn pjs. "Lovelies..." He purred and walked to them, not noticing Mama trembling in anger behind him. "It is bedtime."

"Mama!"

"No, I am Uncle Optimus," he said. He felt something behind him and he turned, seeing Arcee rubbing her eyes as she walked in. "Just some restless young ones. Nothing for you to worry about."

"Except when you're gone and I have to deal with them." She tried to take Lioness, but she buried herself in Victori, hissing and growling. "How do you care for children that don't want you?"

Optimus pulled Lioness out of Victori's arms and laid the oldest in Arcee's arms, letting Lioness claw at his arm and bite his neck. "You turn off your pain receptors." He laughed softly and wrapped Lioness in an old, tattered blanket that she was found with. He didn't know where it came from. All he knew was that it calmed the child down. Lioness rolled back under the bed.

Victori was staring up at Arcee as if she had never seen the femme before. Then she blinked and slowly curled up in her arms. Arcee laid her down slowly, then awkwardly tucked her in.

"There we go," Optimus purred and he led Arcee out of the room. Just as the door closed, the sheets covering Victori were ripped back and shredded.

"They're complete animals," Arcee groaned as she flopped onto the bed. "How do I feed them? Put the food in a bowl?"

"No." Optimus laid out on the bed, yawning. "I will show you how in the morning. I recommend you sleep now."

Arcee sighed and nodded, curling up against his side.

 **ooo**

Optimus prepared oatmeal laced with Energon and cherries in the morning. Cherries seemed to be all the children wanted to eat. Pits were everywhere on the floor before Optimus swept them all up and threw them away. He lectured them lightly on trash can ediquet, then he sat the girls down in his lap to feed them. He drank Energon from a cube, letting the little ones take hits off it until Lioness coughed her oatmeal into the cube. He gave it to Lioness after that.

Victori tried to help him do the dishes, but she was easily distracted by Arcee's pet she found at the pound. "Puppy!"

The Pomeranian jumped at the child, nearly bowling her over.

Arcee watched, holding her mug of warm Energon. She nodded. "That's Ginger," she said. "Don't get her wet. It's disturbing to see a wet Pomeranian."

Optimus left after lunch, prying Victori off his leg and handing her off to his mate. "I will be back before you wake up. Keep them from trouble, yes?"

When the door shut, Arcee turned to Lioness, who was running around after Ginger, possibly with the intention of eating her.

Arcee set out crayons and paper, a plate of crackers, cheese, and cubed solid Energon, but the children ate the plate and drew on the walls instead. Arcee sighed, about to clean the walls when Ginger the red Pomeranian became Ginger the next meal. She knew Ginger could probably outrun them if it came down to it, so she let the children chase her. She knelt, rubbing the crayon drawings away. Most of it was stick people, but there was a scene that disturbed her.

It was definitely Optimus and it was definitely her sitting on a bed, Optimus' malformed head against her crooked neck. Were the children spying on her? What else did they see? She scrubbed the scene away and finished just as the children gave up.

They stared at her acussingly when they found their artwork had disappeared.

Arcee struggled not to snarl. "Crayons are for paper," she said, drawing on the paper with a chewed-on crayon. Victori nodded and started to draw too, but Lioness snapped at Arcee's fingers.

They had macaroni and cheese with a side of chicken nuggets and cherries for dinner. Arcee had her cube. She was startled when Victori sat in her lap to eat, but she let her. Lioness was glaring at both of them as if the two sisters had some agreement to not touch Arcee that was now no longer in effect.

Victori asked to be tucked in. Lioness bit her. Victori walked to her room for a glass of milk. Lioness bit her. In the morning, Victori tried to help Arcee make breakfast. Optimus stumbled into the room with a to-go cup of Energon he probably got from one of the Cybertronian-owned gas stations. Lioness bit both of them in greeting, then decided the middle of the hardwood floor looked like a toilet.

Arcee pointed at the puddle, but Optimus cleaned it up and kissed her cheek.

"Let it go. She probably thinks all floors look like toilets now." He rubbed Lioness's head, mumbled something about combing her hair, and jerked his hand back before he got bit again.

Arcee found him later after doing the dishes. He was asleep, a brush in his hand and Victori in his lap. Lioness was under the couch, chewing on the brush. Victori blinked vivid blue eyes at her and smiled. Lioness growled.

Mama stood behind the couch, glaring at Optimus, but hating Arcee.


	3. Chapter 3

Optimus was gone a lot. Ratchet thought it was great he had a job, but he wasn't thrilled with the fact that he let his mate try to care for two animalistic children by herself.

"He thinks I can do it, and I have an idea of what I'm doing." As she spoke, she set a dog bowl of cherries on the floor. Lioness pounced on it first. Victori ate the cherries out of Arcee's hand as she sat on the chair next to Arcee.

"One of them seems to like you." Ratchet snapped a picture of them. "For the files," he said and he put the camera down for Lioness to sniff. She started chewing on it. Ratchet replaced the camera with his hand. He must have turned off his pain receptors because Lioness was gnawing on his hand.

"Mm. Wonder how that happened." She stroked Victori's hair and smiled, working it into a thick braid. Lioness stopped her assualt on Ratchet to glare at Arcee again. She grabbed the cherry-filled dog bowl in her mouth and ran into the next room on all fours, skattering cherries all over the place in her efforts to get away.

"But one of them seems to dispise you."

"With a passion. I can't do anything with her. The only good news is that Optimus can't either, so I don't feel like a complete failure." She rolled her eyes and tickled Victori.

The sound of laughter filtered up to the girls' room, where Lioness had wandered and was chewing on the bowl, Mama trying to rip it out of her mouth. The tug-of-war game switched to using a blanket. Lioness' giggles and squeals of delight were muffled by the closed door.

Ratchet interviewed Victori, getting all positives until he prodded about Mama again. Then he got vague answers. He decided that she was taking on the role of Mama, becoming an Airachnid-figure, someone who is comforting and soothing, which could easily be fixed with medication.

When Arcee heard about that, she was wary. "Am I safe?"

"From an eight-year-old crazy girl?" Ratchet snorted.

"But...there are _weird_ things going on...I mean, I feel cold when I walk into the same room as the girls, I don't feel welcome around them, and when I put their clothes in their dresser, I feel like I've interrupted some sacred ritual."

"What about Optimus? Does he feel those things?"

"No, they only seem to happen at night, when he's gone or too tired to notice." She sighed and watched Victori walk out of the room. "Is it going to be this hard?"

"You should wait for their heat cycles, won't that be a joy?" He laughed and touched her shoulder. "Everything will be fine. You're worrying too much. Everything has a logical, very logical, explaination." And then he left.

For dinner that night, Arcee served pizza. Victori couldn't quite figure out how to eat it, and Lioness hadn't figured out that the plate was not food. Arcee sighed and decided to stop buying paper plates.

When both were fed, she helped them brush their teeth, bandaged her new sets of bite marks, and sent them off to bed. Optimus was stretched out in bed, yawning and sighing while Arcee crawled on top of him and rubbed his shoulders.

"What happened to your hands?" He touched the bandages.

"We had children." She rolled her eyes and kissed his head. "What happened to your cheery mood?"

"I had a job." He yawned again, rolling over and laughing when they both fell out of the bed. "Mmm. Ratchet came over?"

She nodded, helping her mate back onto the sheets. "Said there was no _Mama_ figure, it was just Victori making it all up or something."

He nodded. "I thought it was kind of cute how they called the walls Mama. I assume you do not believe him and there is medication."

"You should quit your job and become a psychic."

He rolled his eyes at her, then froze. "Hear that?"

Arcee strained her ears, frowning as she got up. "Sounds like singing..."

"From the girls' room." He got up and walked down the hall, opening the door in time to see the closet slam shut. "Mm..." He went to open it. The Matrix, now worn as a pendant on a chain around his neck, thrummed discomfort against his chest. He kept walking, touching the handle.

"Don't," Victori whispered.

Optimus turned to see her. "Why not?" He opened the door slowly and a cloud of dark moths burst out of the closet, startling him. Lioness jumped up and they all dropped dead. She shoved fix or six into her mouth before she crawled back under the bed and growled.

Arcee stood in the doorway, shuddering. Optimus shut the closet door as he looked at her, so he didn't see Mama trying to grab at his shirt. "Just moths."

"Yeah, two servofulls of moths! Optimus, where did they come from?"

"Well, my beloved, when two moths love each other very much, they create new moths, and they create moths, and soon, there are a lot of moths."

Arcee shoved his chest, keeping him from hugging her. "I've heard enough out of you, smarty Prime."

Optimus chuckled and laid her down on the bed, stroking her hair and kissing her gently. "There is nothing wrong. I promise, everything is fine." He smiled and laid down with her to sleep.

Down the hall, Mama was coaxing Lioness out the window. Victori refused to follow, and that made Mama furious. She decided it was time to move her children back to the cabin, but then a thought came to her. She had meant to take her previous child with her to death. Since these children were growing up, the only way to freeze their growth would be to kill them. How could she do that? She could do the same thing she had meant to all those years before...

Lioness and Mama sat under the tree outside while frost coated the grass. Mama wasn't warm like Arcee, to Lioness was quickly cold, but her love for Mama made her stay.

 **ooo**

Optimus had to leave very early the next morning. Another driver couldn't come in, so Optimus offered to take his shift. Arcee decided to make breakfast earlier so that the children could see him before he left.

Victori was downstairs, asking for Lioness. Only, Lioness was gone. While Optimus ran around the house, calling for her, Arcee let Ginger out and saw the huddle of floral pjs. She ran to Lioness, who was frozen, shivering, and blue-lipped. But as soon as the child was inside, she squirmed and growled, biting her and clawing. Arcee held her securely, soothing her and rubbing warmth back into her hands and feet. She took one of the little hands and blew on it. The child ceased all movement and stared at her in wonder.

"You like that?" Arcee did it again, smiling when the child blew on her other hand.

Optimus watched with Victori clinging to his legs, a big smile forming. "I think you have another friend."

That broke the spell that had been on Lioness. She bit Arcee again, this time drawing blood, and bolted, snagging her cherry bowl on the way.

The Prime winced. "Spoke too soon." He helped Arcee bandage her hand, and then he had to leave. He purred down at her as he climbed into his semi, then he backed it skillfully out of the driveway.

Arcee walked back inside to see Victori standing in wait. Then the child wrapped her arms around her and squeezed. "I love you, Arcee."

She flinched and stroked Victori's head, smiling. "I love you, too, kid...help me clean up?"

Mama watched in anger, holding the blanket Lioness was chewing on above her head. She dropped it to the floor, then let the child chew on her dress. She bundled Lioness into her room and crawled around on the ceiling with Lioness dangling from her hair. Victori walked in to receive a cold look from both Lioness and Mama, but Mama forgave her child and waved her closer.

 **ooo**

Ratchet was researching. He found a name, a name that seemed rather...familiar. He researched further, finding that an Edith Brennan died from falling off a cliff not too far from the cabin the children were found at. He wasn't superstitious. He left that to the others, but he couldn't let it go uninvestigated. He found that Edith had plummetted off the cliff and died, not from drowning, but from having her neck broken on a protruding root. At the time, she had had a child with her. The child never hit the water. It, too, had its neck broken, but the root stole the baby from its mother.

No, he wasn't superstitious, but he knew that carriers were possessive of their children, even in death. If Edith didn't have her child, could she have wandered around for centuries, searching for her beloved child when she stumbled across Lioness and Victori? Possibly. Where was the child now?

He found a number and he dialed it. He was invited to come retrieve the child's remains. He did.

His guide was an old female, not superstitious either, but she told him that ghosts were doomed to repeat their lives until wrongs have been righted. Then she thrusted a shoe box into his arms and called it the wrong that killed Edith Brennan.

He tucked the child into his arms, holding it protectively as he walked to his car. He laid it in the passenger seat, buckled it in, and tried to block out the sounds of a baby cooing and gurgling.

He researched more, the child in his lap in its box. He wanted to peek at it, wanted to see where the happy noises were coming from, but he resisted. With every document he opened and read, the story came to him.

 _Edith was mentally insane, and she was pregnant. She wouldn't tell who the father was, and so when it was born, the nuns took it away. She ran after it, begging for her baby. Her anger made her violent and a death was the result of taking the baby from her. To be with her baby forever, she jumped off a cliff, but a branch killed both and for the price of that, kept the baby. Edith looked for her baby ever since and took to Lioness and Victori as substitutes..._

He had to get Arcee and Optimus and the children out of that house before it was too late.


	4. Chapter 4

Optimus was, at last, home to stay for a while. He was exhausted and bore bags under his eyes to show for his work. He watched TV with his nieces, stroking each head and ignoring Lioness whenever she bit him. Victori was warming up to both her uncle and her aunt, learning to call them by their names. Lioness still only knew _Mama_ , which was okay.

Arcee watched, purring softly as she mixed a bowl of brownie batter. When the doorbell rang, she set the bowl aside and opened the door. "Scrap!"

Optima stood in a suit similar to the one she wore at the courthouse, her eyes severe and cold. She crossed her arms, shook her blond head in a way that made Arcee feel ages younger, and she made a note on a clipboard. "May I come in?"

Arcee slumped, her shoulders dropping and her back bending forward, her head staying in relatively the same position, her grip on the door failing a little. "Thursday..."

"You _do_ know your days!" Optima patted her head as she walked in and stared down at the floor. Cherry pits were scattered all over, waiting to be swept up from Lioness' last meal and her doggy bowl of cherries was waiting for her to return. "You feed them with dog bowls?"

"She prefers to be fed that way. She eats paper plates otherwise." Arcee slapped herself to get her to be quiet.

Optimus was alerted to his sister's presence. He stepped into view, ragged and reeking of caffienated Energon. His mouth narrowed into a thin line.

"Ah, my pathetic little brother. You look terrible. And where are the children?"

He crossed his arms. "Have you come to interrogate my mate or have you come to visit the children?" He waved her into the other room, and he went to Arcee. "Thursday?"

"Apparently!"

"Primus," he growled and he looked at the calendar. They were late on crossing the days off by about three weeks. "Primus."

"What now?"

"Offer her Energon tea and smile a little. You look like you are in pain." He kissed her then, and a camera snapped.

"PDA in front of the children? Are you trying to turn them into pleasurebots?"

Arcee groaned and pulled her shirt out of Optimus' hands, patting her breasts to make sure they weren't visible and smoothing the shirt down. The children weren't even watching.

Optimus shook a scolding finger at his sister, advancing. "There is a difference between visiting, and getting evidence. You want to gather evidence? Get a warrant, my dear sister. Because you are in my house, and you are no longer welcome when you insult my mate and my family." He took the camera and pointed toward the door, giving her a firm push between her shoulder blades.

"You haven't heard the last of me, Optimus!" She stood outside, Arcee standing by the door.

"Until next Thursday," Optimus growled, and Arcee slammed the door shut.

Optimus looked at the camera and flipped through the pictures, smiling as he showed her the one of them. "Dirty mech," he said. "Touching his mate all over. Look at him."

Arcee stood on tip-toe. "Filthy femme."

That wound them into kisses, and Arcee found herself bent over the counter, her shorts down around her ankles and her shredded panties decorating the floor while Optimus' belt clicked and came undone, his zipper yanked down.

Lioness walked in and cast them a glance before she picked up her cherry bowl, eating out of it as she walked. Optimus had taught her well, helping her walk when she wasn't biting her. She was learning fast now.

Optimus chuckled into her back, kissing each bump of her spine up to her neck where he licked her ear and gave her a hard thrust, his hips bouncing against her aft. She gasped and stepped her legs wider, pushing back into him. "That is a good femme," he purred, nibbling at her ear. He teased her, his chuckling growing louder and ringing inside her skull.

They showered together, kissing and nuzzling and, eventually, interfacing again. Optimus patted her dry with a towel in their room, her sprawled out on their bed. He rubbed her drying skin, enjoying the sound his rough palms made over her back and down her shoulder. He kissed her cheek, and they laid together.

In the morning, Optimus had to pull himself out of the knot that was him and his mate, his arms coiled around her skinny body and her legs knotted around his. He left her in the cotton sheets, his hand slowly leaving her head that he had been absently stroking.

Victori was making breakfast for a dragon. Optimus thought that because her pancakes were cinders, and he gently scolded her while he cleaned up and prepared her and Lioness perfect stacks of pancakes, making one specially for Arcee (an Energon-blue one). He left it in the microwave with a note, then patted their heads.

"Uncle Optimus has to go now, but I will be back this afternoon. I requested time off. I am taking my lovely ladies to the beach."

As he drove, he considered his actions. Arcee had sworn up and down she was infertile, and he believed himself to be sterile (Megatron did not fight fair or gently), but what if he wasn't...? What if Primus had plans for an addition to their family? Plans including a tiny, squirmy, fleshy sparkling with blue eyes?

Optimus smiled all the way through work and grinned at his boss, even when she said she wouldn't give him the time off.

"Is something funny, Orion?"

He covered his mouth with both hands, laughing softly into his palms."I think I am going to be a daddy."

Her eyes didn't soften a bit. She had been divorced three times and robbed of her chance to have children with an especially sloppy abortion after the last man she was with left her for her oldest daughter, the one from the first husband. Humans were sick and cruel sometimes, and she laughed at him when he said he wasn't human. ( _All men are human,_ she growled and gave him another load to run. _That's why it's okay if they make mistakes._ ). She raised an eyebrow. "Congratulations."

 **ooo**

Arcee felt...awful. She knelt in the bed and rubbed her arm, finding bite marks on her arms from her shoulder to her wrist. "Lioness..." She looked down and found, curled up against her naked leg, was the child in question, grinning at her. "Dirty femme," she growled playfully, tickling her. The previous night washed over her and she blushed, not noticing when Lioness bit her fingers and ran away.

Her phone rang (Miko gifted her with a phone that was due to die in three months), and she grabbed it.

Ratchet. "Are you free this evening?"

"Yeah...Optimus was going to take us to the beach, but the boss won't let him out of the Pits alive," she joked. "Ratchet, could you bring a scanner, too?"

Ratchet had his arms crossed in the dining room, Arcee scanning her belly time after time despite him saying that it wouldn't work.

"Human babies form differently, and this is a human body you're interfacing with. It's not going to be the same."

"Ratchet, it was _wonderful_ and it was _warm_!"

"I'm no interfacing expert," he said, "but our real bodies are pretty warm, too."

She sighed and leaned back in the chair, whining. "I think I'm addicted..." She scanned her belly again, and this time, Ratchet ripped it out of her hands.

"Serious time, Arcee." He continued when she looked at him and he set his backpack on the table. He unzipped it slowly and pulled out a thick file and a small shoe box. "This little thing is a child," he said. "A child belonging to whatever thing found Optimus' nieces."

She sat up. "Hang on, wait...are you saying you're actually believing me now?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. Maybe? Look. All I know is, carriers are very possessive of their children. I mean, look at Optimus! He didn't even carry them and he's possessive, and you right now, scanning your belly repeatedly. Even though there's a chance there's nothing there, you're clinging to that six percent that there is, something curled up in your womb with a heart beat coming soon." He hesitated, holding a knife as he bit his lip and he looked at her. "This Mama the children are seeing, I think she is real, and she has taken your babies as substitutes when she lost this one."

Arcee prompted him to open it, and they gazed down at the tiny remains of a newborn baby, its feeble hands curled adorably under its chin. Its skin was papery and stretched around its bones, but Arcee cooed all the same and stroked the head.

"Such a pretty baby," she said, and she thought she heard a soft giggle.

Mama stood in the doorway, watching the woman that stole her Victori away from her, and this man that smelled a little like Optimus. She didn't see the baby, and she lashed out, wrapping her hand around Ratchet's neck and dragging him back into the darkness of the next room where he struggled and kicked and fought for his life.

Arcee screamed and went to run to his rescue.

 **ooo**

Optimus was called to the office, the boss setting the phone down slowly. Her face was twisted.

"Orion, please sit."

Optimus held his breath as he took a chair, slowly folding his hands. He crushed them between his legs to keep them from trembling.

"Orion, I just got a call from the hospital. Your friend Ryan and your wife Ariel are in the hospital with the kids. The kids are fine. Ryan and Ariel I guess were taking the children out for a hike and there was an accident. Apparently it's bad for Ryan, but Ariel is only scratched up and bruised." She signed a slip and held it out to the pale mech across from her. "Take this...it's your vacation request. I think you need to go home, Orion."

Optimus took it slowly, looking it over. "Two weeks?"

"Don't tell anybody," she whispered. "You're a good worker, even though you've been here with us a couple of months. I'm glad you're here, Orion. But you really need to go."

He drove his semi to the hospital. He got to drive it around and since his truck was near empty, the boss let him take the semi _just this once_. He parked it relatively easy, but he certainly got a few looks. He ran down the halls until he heard Arcee's complaints and Lioness' growls.

He stood in the doorway, watching the nurse attempt to inject some kind of liquid into his mate's arm. "Wait! Wait, wait, wait..." He took the needle. "She's scared of these..." He stroked his mate's head, kissing her face while he located a vein and injected her without her noticing. He bandaged her arm and ignored her whispered curse.

He turned to the nurse, panting softly and rubbing his sweaty palms together. "Ryan?"

"This way." She waved him into another room where Victori was sitting at the chair, watching her "Uncle Ratchet" breathe in and out in shallow, irregular bursts. Sometimes he didn't breathe at all and Optimus would get worried.

"Took quite a fall to get this much damage," she said. She walked over and touched his head. "The most minor damage was a missing fingernail, but I don't think he's worried about that right now. The worst was broken bones, but they mend."

Optimus put his hands behind his head and sighed through his mouth, something he never did unless he was stressed, sad, and worried. Those were one of those rare times.

"He'll be okay, though. Give it a couple days, maybe weeks, and he'll be hobbling around. Ariel tells me he's very strong."

He nodded and sighed softly, shaking his head and dropping his hands to accept Victori's outstretched one. "Come on, pretty girl..." He lifted her, sighing. "I think I will take Ariel home..."

 **ooo**

Arcee didn't want to go in. She dug her heels into the concrete as soon as she reached the top step, her eyes wide and wild. Optimus couldn't even coax Victori in, but Lioness took off running, swallowed into the darkness.

Lioness ran after her, whimpering and shaking.

While Optimus dealt with Arcee, Lioness and Victori blinked up at Mama, her arms outstretched and her hair moving, swaying with some invisible current.

"Mama," Lioness cooed, holding her arms out.

"No, Lioness! Mama's mad!"

As soon as the words were out, Mama ran at the children, intending to punish them. She knew the way to the cliff. Once they understood she was their mother, they would spend the rest of eternity with her, Mama.

The children ran to Optimus, and Mama stood in the light, fully visible to the mates.

Arcee wailed, and that was all she could do before Mama drug them back inside.

She threw Optimus at the wall, not caring much for him. He was barely home with the children. No, she wanted to kill Arcee, the source of her problems. She crawled to her, her limbs going at all sorts of angles as she moved.

Arcee was stunned, laying on the tile in front of the counter she submitted to Optimus on, her eyes wide and teary.

On the table sat the baby, all wrapped up in a towel and ready to be buried, but Arcee saw the baby and she ran to it, holding it out to Mama.

"Here...this is what you're looking for, right? Right?" She backed up. Mama had stood up now and she was walking, hunched over and growling as she studied Arcee's face and glancing down at the baby.

Optimus slowly stood, taking the Matrix into his hand and he touched the baby's head. "Where did you get this?"

Arcee ignored him, and she looked at him before pressing the baby into his hands. "Can you...?"

The Matrix was an ancient device, and only Optimus could use it to revive the dead, locate certain things (the Blades of Time, the AllSpark, etc.,).

Now, they didn't know if it could revive a human baby, but with Mama hunched over and growling in front of them, anything was worth a shot.

Optimus stroked the baby's head with a thumb and pressed the Matrix into its chest. "Awaken," he whispered, and he waited.

Mama howled and charged them.


	5. Chapter 5

Optimus grabbed everything in reach (Arcee, the child, and his nieces), and he ran towards their bedroom, locking the door behind him while he coaxed Arcee towards the closet.

"Optimus, she's not _human_. You think a locked door will stop her?" She looked at the body of the infant. "And why do you still have that? You should have left it with her!"

Optimus looked down at the mummy baby, shaking his head. "She will not want it like this. She wants her baby alive. She has been wandering around the woods, searching for her child. She wants it with her, not a body."

Lioness was biting at Arcee's fingers again. She wanted to go to Mama, but she was being held back.

And then Mama was there, standing in the doorway, the door splinters around her. She ran at Optimus, hesitated when she saw her child, and she lowered her hands slowly.

It was alive, the Matrix's blue-crystal pendant dulling back to its original shade after reanimating the child in the Prime's arms. Optimus smiled down at the child and touched its head as it squirmed and twitched, fussing quietly for its mother. He handed it off to Mama, then gathered his little family into his arms.

Mama cradled the child, stroking its head and backing up several feet before sinking to the ground and resting her head on the wall. She wailed in relief, holding her squirming, alive child for the second time.

Arcee thought she and her family were safe now. They had, after all, given what Mama had wanted: her baby. It was all better now, she thought. She thought wrong.

Mama snapped out of her daze when Lioness squealed _Mama_ and ran to her. She dumped the baby onto the floor and got up, grabbing Lioness and Victori and throwing herself out the window.

Optimus grabbed Arcee's face. "We have to go get her...she left her baby."

"She doesn't want her baby!" Arcee struggled in his grip. "She wants Lioness and Victori!" She bolted, following Lioness' giggles.

Optimus followed her, cradling the wailing child next to his heart, the Matrix humming discomfort against his skin.

He watched his mate run to the figure cradling both children, and smiled a little. He had no fear, no real fear. Arcee adored her adopted children too much, her carrier-instinct activated. She was a Mama Bear who had watched someone take her cubs, and Optimus gave her her head.

"NO!" She grabbed Victori's hand and pulled, guiding the child into her arms instead.

Mama turned and knocked her back, scooping Victori back up into her arms and resuming her trek to the tip of the overhang.

But Arcee had crawled after them, grabbing at Victori again. Mama turned once more and pushed Arcee's head down to rest on the cold stone, Optimus walking up behind, coaching her to rise again, spurring her carrier-instincts.

Arcee grabbed Victori once more, and Victori looked down at her this time, slowly worming her way out of Mama's arms and into Arcee's.

Lioness was crying. "Victori!"

Victori curled into Arcee's chest, pressing her face into her neck and shaking her head. "Stay," she said softly.

Mama tipped her head at Arcee, then gripped Lioness tighter.

Optimus stood between Mama and his mate, baring his teeth. "She has spoken," he said gently, and once more, he offered her live child.

Mama curled her own lip over her teeth and she turned, walking off the overhang with Lioness in her arms. Optimus watched them plummet and strike the same root that took her life and her baby from him.

This time, there was no evidence of either, and he smiled gently down at the child in his arms. "Hello, little one," he purred. He petted its head, stroked its hands and played with its tiny feet.

He turned and looked back at his family, kneeling in front of Arcee and Victori.

Arcee stared at him. "We're keeping it...?" She reached out to touch it.

"The Matrix wouldn't have revived the infant if it did not need to," Optimus said and he tucked the child into his jacket, lifting his mate to her feet as his hand rested on her belly. "And if life exists there, well..." He smiled down at Victori. "We can handle it, can we not?"

She smiled weakly, and followed them, lagging behind. Optimus surrendered the infant to Arcee and he scooped her up, laying her on his shoulder.

A blue moth fluttered down to rest on her hand and she gasped, watching it fly off and dance in the sky before it was accepted into a cloud of black moths. Victori smiled and leaned into her uncle, hugging his neck tightly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow that last chapter was short and anticlimactic, right? My bad. All well. Okay, well, I'm working on an epilogue (Just kidding, I haven't even started!), and it will be up, but I've been...blind-sided.**

 **See, when you have a friend you're interested in, you don't expect her to go running off with your brother after she led you on to believe she liked you, like "be my girlfriend" like. So when that happens, you kind of...deflate, and cry, and lose interest in typing anything, so you cut it short so you can breathe deeply and you post what you've written just to get it out of your way.**

 **Yeah, see, that's what I did. And the epilogue (that doesn't exist) is coming soon!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Boy do I bounce back fast. x3 Okay, guys. In case you didn't already know, I'm interested in girls, and I finally talked to this one girl I was interested in, and she didn't put me down! I was** _ **so**_ **worried she would! But she didn't! I'm** _ **so**_ **on top of the world right now! Let's get this fic finished!**

Arcee woke to two squirmy bundles against her sides, and she looked to her left, finding the adopted child all wrapped up in blue. He was beautiful, twitchy and squirmy with big, blue eyes and pale, pale skin. He would never burn or tan, Optimus predicted. His black hair was glittering, and Arcee loved to run her hand over the soft, soft curls...

Her own child was sneezing and fussing, wrapped in a soft, pale Easter-y rainbow of a blanket.

Optimus was sitting in the chair at the foot of the bed, shaking a bottle for the week-old child, who lucked out in the Cybertronian genes. Pure human, Arcee thought. Who knew?

Lilybell was sobbing now, and Optimus lifted her with his rough hands. After he showed off his beloved daughter at his work, allowing the boss to cradle his child, he earned another vacation, which was strange. He liked to joke that the other drivers were going to start fragging their wives to get vacations of their own.

Arcee laid back down, Victori padding in with pancakes. Perfectly round, perfectly fluffy, perfectly golden pancakes. Optimus smiled at her, at the Energon-blue pancakes reserved for them, and he pulled her into his arms, laying the plate of pancakes on the bed as he taught her how to feed Lilybell.

Optimus looked down at the adopted Oryan and smiled gently, reaching over to stroke his black hair. "Look at him," he whispered, then he lifted the child off the bed. "Such a pretty thing...look..."

It was Optimus' idea to name him, and since Arcee continually drew blanks whenever Optimus asked, he took it upon himself to name the child.

He leaned back in his chair, smiling at Ratchet when he walked in.

Arcee thought it was strange Victori made perfect pancakes _on her own_. She smiled at Ratchet and laid back, letting him examine Oryan, and then her, closing her eyes when he rubbed her all over.

"She seems to have recovered well from the human birth," Ratchet declared, staring down at Lilybell, the perfect human baby from two human-Cybertronians. Then he looked up and muttered _unbelievable_. He was stumped.

"You will be over here for months studying her," Optimus purred.

" _Years_ ," he corrected. "You're keeping this house, even if Lioness is...no longer with us."

Arcee felt a pang of sadness. "What do we say?"

"What the press wants to hear. Lioness was sicker than we thought, and we made a mistake by declaring them healthy so early and pressing her into an environment she wasn't familiar with. Stress kills... I and Optima will be getting the heat, not you. They see you as a couple who adored two little children who weren't even yours who did everything you could, and they see Optima an uncaring aunt who pressured you two, making the environment stressful, and I, a bumbling professional-wannabe."

Optimus stroked his daughter's head, then kissed his niece's forehead, who sighed in a sad way. She missed her sister, and Arcee caught her sleeping under her bed more than once, cuddling a ratty blanket.

Arcee sat up, pulling Oryan into her arms. He woke up and fussed a little, and Optimus and Arcee traded children.

Lilybell curled into her mother's arms, nuzzling gently against her skin as she breathed a little heavily, then she fell asleep. Just like that.

Ratchet shook his head. "Crazy children," he muttered, sweeping his gingery hair back and he chuckled softly. "I leave now. The reporters have come in a smaller pack today, and I desire to borrow your weedwacker to cut through them."

Optimus chuckled and got up. "I will escort you to your car, my friend."

The reporters were on him, on his son, on Ratchet within moments like fleas or flies or some other pest. Optimus ignored them, mostly, and then they asked about Lioness.

"Is it true you did everything you could? Your sister says there was a chance you killed her!"

Optimus stopped and he looked at the reporter who spoke. "My dear child," he growled lowly as he shifted his son in his arms. "I did everything humanly possible, and a little more, to save my dear niece, but there are somethings you cannot change. Death happens, and it is not a curse, or something to be feared, but embraced, knowing everything was accomplished in their time to do. Some all-powerful being called my Lioness away, and no amount of praying can bring her back."

Ratchet drove off and Optimus retreated back into the house, setting his son in a bouncy chair so he could check on Arcee and Lilybell. He found them both asleep and he leaned in the doorway.

Victori was in the living room, cupping a blue moth in her hands while a single tear rolled down her face and she stroked its wings before she laid the moth on her desk.

Crayon drawings slowly faded from her walls, and Lioness' form in drawing and pictures disappeared.

As if she never, truly existed.


End file.
